John Stringer Prize 10 Year Retrospective Artist talks
The John Stringer Prize is an annual award and exhibition of newly commissioned work by Western Australian artists. It has been the direct outcome of the Collectors Club’s passion and interest in artistic practice – from the studio all the way to the exhibited work. John Curtin Gallery has been proud to present these exhibitions, and for this tenth anniversary year, presents a curated selection of new artworks by past winners. John Stringer Prize – 10 Year Retrospective not only celebrates and highlights the impact the John Stringer Prize has had but shares an insight into contemporary Western Australian artistic practices.
Hear from previous winners Alistair Rowe, Merrick Belyea, Erin Coates and Bjoern Rainer Adamson.
Merrick Belyea
Recent work by Merrick has focused on the curiously human appetite for destruction. Environmental concerns are central to recent paintings that refer to a potential for devastation and offer a portent to future mechanical scarification of the landscape. Paring back the veneer of previously prepared paint layers reveal the detritus of process and the fragility of surface. Merrick maintains a regular exhibition program and was invited to exhibit at the Australian Embassy in the Philippines in 2001 and Art Stage Singapore in 2015. He was included in the Australian Art Collector ‘Australia’s Most Collectable Artists’ list in 2004 and 2006. Merrick is an active member of the Western Australian art scene, playing a pivotal role in a number of artist-run-initiatives, most recently as a foundation member and current Chairman of Art Collective WA. In 2021, he was awarded the John Stringer Prize for his painting series, Brigadoon.
Erin Coates
Erin Coates creates drawings, sculptures and films that examine our relationship with the natural world, physical thresholds and the essence of transformed bodies – both human and non-human. Her practice draws from her background as a climber and freediver as well as her deep interest in biology and genre cinema. Coates’ drawings often engage a transgressive bodily aesthetic and combine elements of human biology with endemic animal species. Referencing anthropogenic impacts on these organisms, the work also proposes possible transhuman futures. She has held solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and participated in key biennales and exhibition projects, including: rīvus: 23rd Biennale of Sydney (2022), Adelaide Biennial: Monster Theatres (2020), Videobrasil-21st Contemporary Art Biennial, São Paulo (2019). Coates is represented by Moore Contemporary.
Alistair Rowe
Alistair makes sculpture and installation that is concerned with spatial and material dynamics. Referencing informal and provisional architecture, he uses everyday materials to make structures that are held together with tensility and balance. Whilst his works have a precise material make up and a hermetic quality, their finely balanced forms and inherent structural tension also signal fragility and the potential for collapse. He has exhibited in solo and group shows – including shows at Fremantle Art Centre, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery and Perth Institute of Contemporary Art – and has undertaken residencies and research projects in Australia and India. His work can be found in institutional and private collections.
Bjoern Rainer-Adamson
Bjoern Rainer-Adamson, a German-born artist residing in Western Australia, was formally trained in fine art and wood carving at the Fachschule für Schreiner und Holzbildhauer in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. His work engages with the dialectics of human and technological entanglement, integrating organic forms with industrial motifs to explore themes of conflict, transformation, and symbiosis. Rainer-Adamson’s sculptures function as metaphoric commentaries on the evolving dynamics between nature and machinery, reflecting on the existential dilemmas of creation and destruction. His art compels viewers to interrogate the impact of technological progress on human identity, challenging our understanding of an increasingly mechanized existence.
Date: 24 November 2024
Time: 12:30 – 2:00pm
These conversations are not to be missed, John Curtin Gallery is thrilled to host the previous winners of the John Stringer Prize for this artist talk.
Afternoon tea will be provided.
Free event: Registration is essential.
Header Image: John Stringer Prize artist talk, featuring 2018 finalists. Photo courtesy of Brad Coleman.
